Broke Guy Day Care: Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos

Before I start, I should note that the area consisting of adjoining Vasona Park and Oak Meadow Park is huge. And I’m writing almost exclusively about the train, carousel and neighboring grass and playground area in Oak Meadow Park. So this is basically like drafting a review of “Casino Royale” based on the opening sequence where Bond chases that guy who does all the parkour. (In my defense, that was an amazing sequence. I wouldn’t begrudge a critic who wrote a review that said: “The first 10 minutes of “Casino Royale” was so awesome that it justifies the entire movie. But just know that I left early and took my family to get pizza.”)

I digress. We went to Oakl Meadow/Vasona Park early last month on a research mission. The location is a finalist for the next The Poop Meet-Up, which will be in the South Bay, as a reward to the Santa Cruz Cabal for getting up early and hauling their asses to our previous Meet-ups in San Francisco and Oakland.

Both attractions rank among my favorites of their kind in the Bay Area. But they get special note because they’re also reasonably priced. I’m guessing it’s because of the huge amount of volunteers involved. The fare for each is $2, with kids under 2 riding free with a paying adult. Add the exceptional playground nearby complete with a jet plane play structure, and this meets my qualifications for a Broke Guy Day Care.

The train is great, and has a lot of history. In short, it was started by an old Southern Pacific railroad engineer named Billy Jones, who built a narrow gauge railway in his orchard and was generous about letting local kids ride it. When he died in 1968, the community rallied and moved it to Vasona Park. Volunteers gave it a lot of attention, building historically accurate structures, extending the track and making a big deal about letting people see everything that goes on with the operation and maintenance of a steam train.

Both times I’ve visited, an older dude with a huge beard (different dudes) walked up to us waiting in line and started offering information about the railroad.

It’s a long ride filled with shade trees that travels through a lot of the park. And I have to give the residents of Los Gatos credit. If I’m jogging on the same paths every day, I might lose my enthusiasm for waving at the people in the train each and every time. But everyone I passed was bringing their “A” waving game. Thanks for making us feel special, tireless Los Gatoans.

In many ways, I like the carousel even more. It was originally built for the Pan-Pacific Exposition in 1915, making it one of the oldest in the area. After it sat in storage for decades, the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad people acquired it in 1980 and slowly restored it for a 1990 debut.

It’s smaller than some of the other Bay Area carousels, and has some incredible artistic detail, including very interesting paintings near the center of the carousel and in the interior of the building that houses it. You could spend a half hour looking at all the artwork and little signs.

There’s also a little workshop around the back of the building, where people can watch the volunteers restoring the old carousel horses and parts. The guy in the above photo looks pissed off, but I think I interrupted him when he was doing some important detail work. He was actually quite nice and waved at my kids.

I feel like I’m not describing the overall carousel experience appropriately. I’ll just end by saying that my blood pressure drops when I walk in the place.

When we were done, we walked across a big grassy area surrounded by picnic benches toward the playground. I was pleased to see a fenced-in play structure that included a 1950s T-33A T-Bird jet trainer, which has been “on loan” to Los Gatos since 1974. Locals who grew up playing on the jet plane structure along 19th Avenue in San Francisco will have a nice flashback moment.

The rest of the playground was typical but enjoyable, and the meadow that divides the train/carousel and playground is huge. We went on what should have been a sunny and busy Labor Day weekend, and the place didn’t seem all that crowded because there’s so much open space.

I’m officially declaring this the next The Poop Meet-Up location. Probably some time in the Spring.

The train is currently open on weekends and the carousel is open on weekends with limited hours on Wed. through Fri. The home page for the train and carousel is here. Note that they have a special nighttime Halloween-themed train that continues through Oct. 30.

PETER HARTLAUB is the pop culture critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and founder of this parenting blog, which admittedly sometimes often never has nothing to do with parenting. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/peterhartlaub. Your questions answered on VYou atwww.vyou.com/peterhartlaub.